As the 18th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival came and went last week, I celebrated my third festival and, most importantly, my third year as a blogger for the festival.

My experience with FLEFF started in January 2013. As a second semester freshman, I was excited, overjoyed, and very, very nervous to be blogging for my first time. Moreover, as the youngest member of the blogging team, my first experience with the festival was definitely intimidating. But my participation in the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival has been such a crucial component in, not only, my experience at Ithaca College, but to the very...

As the 18th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival came and went last week, I celebrated my third festival and, most importantly, my third year as a blogger for the festival.

My experience with FLEFF started in January 2013. As a second semester freshman, I was excited, overjoyed, and very, very nervous to be blogging for my first time. Moreover, as the youngest member of the blogging team, my first experience with the festival was definitely intimidating. But my participation in the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival has been such a crucial component in, not only, my experience at Ithaca College, but to the very...

Maybe thinking about dissonance will make us think more about consonance?

This question, posed by Dr. Deborah Martin, professor of piano at Ithaca College and performer at the dissonance concert, stuck with me as I traveled through the festival. Dissonance requires some consensus to function, if the dissenting voice is not considered, it will fade away.

We are uncomfortable with dissonance.

While watching The Throwaways by Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak, I wanted to rationalize my complicity in the prison industrial complex because I had studied it.

Maybe thinking about dissonance will make us think more about consonance?

This question, posed by Dr. Deborah Martin, professor of piano at Ithaca College and performer at the dissonance concert, stuck with me as I traveled through the festival. Dissonance requires some consensus to function, if the dissenting voice is not considered, it will fade away.

We are uncomfortable with dissonance.

While watching The Throwaways by Ira McKinley and Bhawin Suchak, I wanted to rationalize my complicity in the prison industrial complex because I had studied it.

During FLEFF week, I was absorbed by the festival. While speaking with other students about the event, I discovered five flagrant misconceptions about FLEFF.

Here are five ideas to leave at the door.

1. I can’t do anything with FLEFF until the festival starts

FLEFF hosts events year-round, but most of them occur during the week of the festival.

To prepare for the festival, try learning more about the films which will be featured before going to see them. Read blogs, comment on them, look up trailers -- the more you know about the program, the more dynamic your experience will be.

2. Lectures and concerts don’t fit into a film festival

Film festivals are about conversations and ideas. Since FLEFF is a theme-based festival,...

During FLEFF week, I was absorbed by the festival. While speaking with other students about the event, I discovered five flagrant misconceptions about FLEFF.

Here are five ideas to leave at the door.

1. I can’t do anything with FLEFF until the festival starts

FLEFF hosts events year-round, but most of them occur during the week of the festival.

To prepare for the festival, try learning more about the films which will be featured before going to see them. Read blogs, comment on them, look up trailers -- the more you know about the program, the more dynamic your experience will be.

2. Lectures and concerts don’t fit into a film festival

Film festivals are about conversations and ideas. Since FLEFF is a theme-based festival,...

The American Dissonances concert was a contrasting assembly of American tunes played on two pianos, a bass, a trumpet, a flute, with Mezzo-Soprano vocals. A screen played scenes of iconic geography throughout the U.S., and eclectic historical scenes such as activist movements, early home-videos, airplane production in the World Wars, and more. The show was well-received and was given a standing ovation.

Here are a few comments from audience members in response to the question "What was your favorite piece and why?"

"The Gershwin pieces were wonderful for that generation and for ours." - Mr. Magoo

"I don't usually like to rate the songs. They were all good." - Anonymous

"What was it called...it had the bass...Oh, the three preludes. I liked the second part." - Lauren McGrath

"I liked Nicholas Walker's original Chorale best." - Chris White

"I think Simple...

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Blog Post by Blaize Hall, Television-Radio, '15, Georgia, Vermont

The American Dissonances concert was a contrasting assembly of American tunes played on two pianos, a bass, a trumpet, a flute, with Mezzo-Soprano vocals. A screen played scenes of iconic geography throughout the U.S., and eclectic historical scenes such as activist movements, early home-videos, airplane production in the World Wars, and more. The show was well-received and was given a standing ovation.

Here are a few comments from audience members in response to the question "What was your favorite piece and why?"

"The Gershwin pieces were wonderful for that generation and for ours." - Mr. Magoo

"I don't usually like to rate the songs. They were all good." - Anonymous

"What was it called...it had the bass...Oh, the three preludes. I liked the second part." - Lauren McGrath

Fe Nunn will be performing at the silent film screening of The Red Kimono on Friday, April 5 at 7:00 at Cinemapolis.

Originally from Buffalo, NY, Fe Nunn is a songwriter and composer who currently lives in Ithaca, NY and teaches media literacy and television production at Boynton Middle School. Nunn has composed scores for films, television, and radio, as well as releasing a CD, “We Can Make It,” in 1999.

Nunn specializes in jazz and avant garde veins of music and will be contributing his unique talent to the screening and performance this Saturday.

Fe Nunn will be performing at the silent film screening of The Red Kimono on Friday, April 5 at 7:00 at Cinemapolis.

Originally from Buffalo, NY, Fe Nunn is a songwriter and composer who currently lives in Ithaca, NY and teaches media literacy and television production at Boynton Middle School. Nunn has composed scores for films, television, and radio, as well as releasing a CD, “We Can Make It,” in 1999.

Nunn specializes in jazz and avant garde veins of music and will be contributing his unique talent to the screening and performance this Saturday.

Cynthia Henderson will be contributing vocal dramatization at the screening of The Red Kimono on Friday, April 5 at 7 PM at Cinemapolis.

The Red Kimono, a 1925 film by Walter Lang and Dorothy Davenport, follows the story of a unsuspecting girl who works as a prostitute in New Orleans.

Cynthia Henderson is an Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College, with a speciality in acting. Professor Henderson has been acting both on stage and on screen since 1985. She is also the founder of Performing Arts for Social Change at Cornell University.

Cynthia Henderson will be contributing vocal dramatization at the screening of The Red Kimono on Friday, April 5 at 7 PM at Cinemapolis.

The Red Kimono, a 1925 film by Walter Lang and Dorothy Davenport, follows the story of a unsuspecting girl who works as a prostitute in New Orleans.

Cynthia Henderson is an Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at Ithaca College, with a speciality in acting. Professor Henderson has been acting both on stage and on screen since 1985. She is also the founder of Performing Arts for Social Change at Cornell University.

Monday Is Wash Day is an installation work co-directed by Chris Gallant, Assistant Professor of Digital Media at Hilbert College in Hamburg, NY. The work is based around a folk poem depicting 17th century women's work. The installation reappropriates the poem to depict modern day women's work, accompanied by ukulele music.

The title— Monday is Wash Day— comes from a line in the poem. It is currently part of an ongoing installation at Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY.

“The work basically shows the disparity between messages of the past and future,” says Gallant. “It's a representation of the common cultural message of the time period and there's a lot of opportunity for dissonance in that work. For me, it...

Monday Is Wash Day is an installation work co-directed by Chris Gallant, Assistant Professor of Digital Media at Hilbert College in Hamburg, NY. The work is based around a folk poem depicting 17th century women's work. The installation reappropriates the poem to depict modern day women's work, accompanied by ukulele music.

The title— Monday is Wash Day— comes from a line in the poem. It is currently part of an ongoing installation at Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY.

“The work basically shows the disparity between messages of the past and future,” says Gallant. “It's a representation of the common cultural message of the time period and there's a lot of opportunity for dissonance in that work. For me, it...

Information for this post came from a phone interview with Kissel and a follow-up e-mail.

“What does a small, rural town that nobody has ever heard of have to do with China?

"It turns out, quite a bit.”

In 2004, Kissel worked on a project in a town of 500 people in rural Georgia. All the cotton processed in the town’s gin would be sent to China. It was this dissonance that inspired Kissel to make Cotton Road.

“Here was something in front of me, the year's cotton crop, which was really NOT all about Georgia; it was really a global story disguised to me as a local one.

"This dissonance led me to want to look more closely at the labor and industrial processes in a supply chain, to try to make visible all those...

Information for this post came from a phone interview with Kissel and a follow-up e-mail.

“What does a small, rural town that nobody has ever heard of have to do with China?

"It turns out, quite a bit.”

In 2004, Kissel worked on a project in a town of 500 people in rural Georgia. All the cotton processed in the town’s gin would be sent to China. It was this dissonance that inspired Kissel to make Cotton Road.

“Here was something in front of me, the year's cotton crop, which was really NOT all about Georgia; it was really a global story disguised to me as a local one.

"This dissonance led me to want to look more closely at the labor and industrial processes in a supply chain, to try to make visible all those...

Lori Joyce's 2013 film Arise encounters 15 women who discuss the disconnect between humans and the natural world. They offer ideas for a better future from a holistic approach and coming coming to a better understanding of the environment and the place of humans in it.

Arise is a film made by Idanha Films, INC., a non-profit organization whose goal is to create an audience for voices who previously had none.

Lori Joyce's 2013 film Arise encounters 15 women who discuss the disconnect between humans and the natural world. They offer ideas for a better future from a holistic approach and coming coming to a better understanding of the environment and the place of humans in it.

Arise is a film made by Idanha Films, INC., a non-profit organization whose goal is to create an audience for voices who previously had none.

The story of how Professor Wenhua Shi became a filmmaker is a story of dissonance itself.

Shi graduated from Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, China in 1995. But he didn’t want to follow his father and his older brother to become a doctor.

I recently Skyped with Professor Shi. He is an installation artist, a filmmaker, and currently an Assistant Professor of Art and Digital Art at Colgate University. We had a an-hour-long, casual conversation in Chinese and I was truly impressed and inspired by his experience.

Shi had developed a strong interest in music and film when he was in college. He was one of those whom people would call “wen yi qing nian”, which literally means literal,...

The story of how Professor Wenhua Shi became a filmmaker is a story of dissonance itself.

Shi graduated from Tongji Medical University in Wuhan, China in 1995. But he didn’t want to follow his father and his older brother to become a doctor.

I recently Skyped with Professor Shi. He is an installation artist, a filmmaker, and currently an Assistant Professor of Art and Digital Art at Colgate University. We had a an-hour-long, casual conversation in Chinese and I was truly impressed and inspired by his experience.

Shi had developed a strong interest in music and film when he was in college. He was one of those whom people would call “wen yi qing nian”, which literally means literal,...

Dr. Deborah Martin, professor of Piano Performance Studies at Ithaca College and Dr. Jairo Geronymo, teacher at the Leo Kestenberg School of Music in Berlin, are preparing for the fifth annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival opening concert.

Dr. Deborah Martin, professor of Piano Performance Studies at Ithaca College and Dr. Jairo Geronymo, teacher at the Leo Kestenberg School of Music in Berlin, are preparing for the fifth annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival opening concert.

My freshman year, I wanted to be an intern, filled out the application, and struggled with the decision to submit it. Ultimately my fear got the best of me and I decided to attend the festival as a spectator. Dissonance held me back.

I watched. I chatted with friends and filmmakers. I left.

I enjoyed FLEFF from a distance, always wondering what would have happened if I sent in my application.

This year, dissonance pushed me into the festival. The theme was enough to persuade me to face my fear and jump in with both feet. To silence my internal naysayers and see what working for FLEFF was really like. I vowed to learn about festivals, blogging, and film in a whole new way.

I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.

Festivals are so much more than the screenings and the parties. They are...

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Dissonance has surrounded my relationship with FLEFF.

My freshman year, I wanted to be an intern, filled out the application, and struggled with the decision to submit it. Ultimately my fear got the best of me and I decided to attend the festival as a spectator. Dissonance held me back.

I watched. I chatted with friends and filmmakers. I left.

I enjoyed FLEFF from a distance, always wondering what would have happened if I sent in my application.

This year, dissonance pushed me into the festival. The theme was enough to persuade me to face my fear and jump in with both feet. To silence my internal naysayers and see what working for FLEFF was really like. I vowed to learn about festivals, blogging, and film in a whole new way.

I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.

Festivals are so much more than the screenings and the parties. They are...

]]>Kayla ReopelleThu, 06 Mar 2014 19:13:19 GMTWhat Do National Parks Have To Do With FLEFF?http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff10/blogs/fleff_intern_voices/what_do_national_parks_have_to_do_with_fleff_/http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff10/blogs/fleff_intern_voices/what_do_national_parks_have_to_do_with_fleff_/

I joined the FLEFF blogging team not knowing what to expect. All I knew was I wanted to learn and I wanted to write about it. My job is a blogger. I am a number; part of a group that is part of a larger group. We are the festival team.

The theme is dissonance. It's all we've been talking about for weeks. Every time I interview someone, I ask, “What does dissonance mean to you?” because every person has a different answer.

I have learned that festivals are a place for thought, discussion, and ideas to mass together in the same pot. I am excited for this. I think FLEFF is fascinating and every person who I have talked to has been completely different. It's a giant pot of soup with ingredients and flavors that somehow meld together to create an unexpectedly pleasant, bold, and unforgettable flavor. By result of some happy circumstance, I have been able to talk with people who offered an insight on something that...

I joined the FLEFF blogging team not knowing what to expect. All I knew was I wanted to learn and I wanted to write about it. My job is a blogger. I am a number; part of a group that is part of a larger group. We are the festival team.

The theme is dissonance. It's all we've been talking about for weeks. Every time I interview someone, I ask, “What does dissonance mean to you?” because every person has a different answer.

I have learned that festivals are a place for thought, discussion, and ideas to mass together in the same pot. I am excited for this. I think FLEFF is fascinating and every person who I have talked to has been completely different. It's a giant pot of soup with ingredients and flavors that somehow meld together to create an unexpectedly pleasant, bold, and unforgettable flavor. By result of some happy circumstance, I have been able to talk with people who offered an insight on something that...

Last week, my fellow blogger, Kayla Reopelle, interviewed Mr. Brett Bossard for an in-depth Q&A blog. I followed up with him this week, downtown in the warm lobby of Cinemapolis as the wind howled outside, to get his take on the festival's theme of Dissonance.

"I like to think of [Dissonance] in terms of cultural dissonance. It's important to recognize [cultural dissonance] because we're living in a time where we have a 24-hour news cycle and people are constantly talking about the culture wars that are being...

Last week, my fellow blogger, Kayla Reopelle, interviewed Mr. Brett Bossard for an in-depth Q&A blog. I followed up with him this week, downtown in the warm lobby of Cinemapolis as the wind howled outside, to get his take on the festival's theme of Dissonance.

"I like to think of [Dissonance] in terms of cultural dissonance. It's important to recognize [cultural dissonance] because we're living in a time where we have a 24-hour news cycle and people are constantly talking about the culture wars that are being...

I have never seen a more relaxing office. Taiwan- inspired tapestries, plants, and dragons cover the tops of the furniture. Soft, brown armchairs welcome me to the window, where a decorative cherry tree sits. Its pink- budded limbs obscure the gray cloud that has perpetually encased Ithaca College this winter.

Tucked away in the corner by her blue “zen fountain,” sits Dr. Virginia Mansfield- Richardson, Associate Dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications. Running water trickles constantly in the background of our conversation about FLEFF.

Q: Can you elaborate on your involvement with registration and courses for FLEFF?A: Once FLEFF came into the Park School, Dr. Zimmermann approached me and asked, 'What should we do?' And I said, 'Let's just put it under GCOM,' which stands for General Communications, 'and that can be its home.' I do the work...

I have never seen a more relaxing office. Taiwan- inspired tapestries, plants, and dragons cover the tops of the furniture. Soft, brown armchairs welcome me to the window, where a decorative cherry tree sits. Its pink- budded limbs obscure the gray cloud that has perpetually encased Ithaca College this winter.

Tucked away in the corner by her blue “zen fountain,” sits Dr. Virginia Mansfield- Richardson, Associate Dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications. Running water trickles constantly in the background of our conversation about FLEFF.

Q: Can you elaborate on your involvement with registration and courses for FLEFF?A: Once FLEFF came into the Park School, Dr. Zimmermann approached me and asked, 'What should we do?' And I said, 'Let's just put it under GCOM,' which stands for General Communications, 'and that can be its home.' I do the work...

A: Oh, let’s see. It’ll be a total of three years. My first year I was a dissertation fellow and then I was hired at a tenured track position so this May will be a total of 3 years that I have been here.

Q: After looking at your faculty profile on the IC website, I noticed that your current research is focused on HIV/AIDS, specifically in relation to people of African descent. Could you elaborate on your research?

A: My current research is at the intersection of rhetoric, religion, and difference. The project that I’m working on examines black church responses to HIV/AIDS across African diaspora. I wanted to find out what...

A: Oh, let’s see. It’ll be a total of three years. My first year I was a dissertation fellow and then I was hired at a tenured track position so this May will be a total of 3 years that I have been here.

Q: After looking at your faculty profile on the IC website, I noticed that your current research is focused on HIV/AIDS, specifically in relation to people of African descent. Could you elaborate on your research?

A: My current research is at the intersection of rhetoric, religion, and difference. The project that I’m working on examines black church responses to HIV/AIDS across African diaspora. I wanted to find out what...

Edited excerpts from a personal interview with Mead Loop, Associate Professor and Documentary Studies Program Coordinator, Department of Journalism, Ithaca College

Q: I’d like to hear about your experience as an adjudicator for The Dissonance Project that FLEFF ran this spring for high school students. Will you tell me about it?

A: The dissonance contest was an attempt to push our outreach with FLEFF to the high school audience. That’s generally the audience that doesn’t attend FLEFF, so we’re broadening that focus. We had submissions from as far away as Texas. The responses ranged in topics from personal dissonances in their lives, to one person who wrote about dissonance surrounding conflict in the Middle...

Edited excerpts from a personal interview with Mead Loop, Associate Professor and Documentary Studies Program Coordinator, Department of Journalism, Ithaca College

Q: I’d like to hear about your experience as an adjudicator for The Dissonance Project that FLEFF ran this spring for high school students. Will you tell me about it?

A: The dissonance contest was an attempt to push our outreach with FLEFF to the high school audience. That’s generally the audience that doesn’t attend FLEFF, so we’re broadening that focus. We had submissions from as far away as Texas. The responses ranged in topics from personal dissonances in their lives, to one person who wrote about dissonance surrounding conflict in the Middle...

Tufts of hair poke every which way after he runs his hands over his head, making him look all the more like a passionate artist. John Scott leans back in his chair and exhales slowly. There is a long pause, the only sound in the room is the quiet hum of a Macbook Pro with AVID video editing software, and a class syllabus both pulled up on the screen.

Then he chuckles. “I’ve been having these conversations with a lot of people about football. I’m really against it. I think it’s this dangerous thing that people do and they wreck their brains playing this game... Part of it is, I think, because I’m from Canada, and I didn’t grow up with this game the way Americans have.”

“When you come from a different place, and grow up in a different model, it puts you in...

Tufts of hair poke every which way after he runs his hands over his head, making him look all the more like a passionate artist. John Scott leans back in his chair and exhales slowly. There is a long pause, the only sound in the room is the quiet hum of a Macbook Pro with AVID video editing software, and a class syllabus both pulled up on the screen.

Then he chuckles. “I’ve been having these conversations with a lot of people about football. I’m really against it. I think it’s this dangerous thing that people do and they wreck their brains playing this game... Part of it is, I think, because I’m from Canada, and I didn’t grow up with this game the way Americans have.”

“When you come from a different place, and grow up in a different model, it puts you in...

Dr. Thomas Shevory is a Politics professor at Ithaca College, but admits he took on a sort of “second career” when he became co-director of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival 10 years ago.

Originating at Cornell University seventeen years ago, the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (or Cornell Environmental Film Festival, as it was known then) was under the supervision of a Mr. Christopher Riley who recruited the current directors, Drs. Shevory and Zimmermann in the festival’s youth.

“For a long time we weren’t programming or organizing the festival, we were just kind of doing Ithaca College’s segment of the festival,” explains Shevory.

But that all changed when the festival lost its funding from Cornell University in 2003. In order to save the festival, Ithaca...

Dr. Thomas Shevory is a Politics professor at Ithaca College, but admits he took on a sort of “second career” when he became co-director of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival 10 years ago.

Originating at Cornell University seventeen years ago, the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (or Cornell Environmental Film Festival, as it was known then) was under the supervision of a Mr. Christopher Riley who recruited the current directors, Drs. Shevory and Zimmermann in the festival’s youth.

“For a long time we weren’t programming or organizing the festival, we were just kind of doing Ithaca College’s segment of the festival,” explains Shevory.

But that all changed when the festival lost its funding from Cornell University in 2003. In order to save the festival, Ithaca...

For me, the past year has been all about breaking out of my comfort zone, and that is reflected in the theme of this year’s Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival.

I’ve come a long way in the last 12 months: from a timid, nervous freshman to a confident woman figuring out who and where she wants to be in the world. I’ve broken down walls that I built up and pushed myself to the edge of what used to be my comfort zone.

As a Documentary Studies and Production major, I’m required to take courses in film, photography, and journalism. Film and photography have always excited me, but as a freshman with very little confidence in my writing ability, the idea of journalism classes made my stomach churn.

For me, the past year has been all about breaking out of my comfort zone, and that is reflected in the theme of this year’s Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival.

I’ve come a long way in the last 12 months: from a timid, nervous freshman to a confident woman figuring out who and where she wants to be in the world. I’ve broken down walls that I built up and pushed myself to the edge of what used to be my comfort zone.

As a Documentary Studies and Production major, I’m required to take courses in film, photography, and journalism. Film and photography have always excited me, but as a freshman with very little confidence in my writing ability, the idea of journalism classes made my stomach churn.

I had the honor to interview one of the assistants to the co-directors of FLEFF, Chenruo Zhang, and she left me with that impression.

Chenruo is a Communications major graduate student at Ithaca College. She grew up in Yixing, a small but historically significant city not far away from Shanghai, China. Before coming to Ithaca, N.Y., last summer, Chenruo spent her college life studying Radio and Television Journalism at Nanjing Forestry University.

These might all seem normal. What astonished me the most were two other things about her. These two stories unfold her qualities that she's not afraid of being different or breaking rules.

Most kids in China have to go through military trainings for about two or three times throughout their...

I had the honor to interview one of the assistants to the co-directors of FLEFF, Chenruo Zhang, and she left me with that impression.

Chenruo is a Communications major graduate student at Ithaca College. She grew up in Yixing, a small but historically significant city not far away from Shanghai, China. Before coming to Ithaca, N.Y., last summer, Chenruo spent her college life studying Radio and Television Journalism at Nanjing Forestry University.

These might all seem normal. What astonished me the most were two other things about her. These two stories unfold her qualities that she's not afraid of being different or breaking rules.

Most kids in China have to go through military trainings for about two or three times throughout their...

“So what you’re saying is that Afghans deserve the fate that the US Military has given them, that their history has led them to this very moment, that funneling in more US Military troops is some sort of destiny, that the civilians who may die in this process are just destined to do so?”

Do I support my beliefs and speak my mind, or do I continue playing my role and support my assigned side of the debate?

I first learned about dissonance in high school. During AP Psychology, we discussed cognitive dissonance, Leon Festinger’s term for a human being torn between two ideas and trying to reconcile these two pieces of information to get out of this state of mental...

“So what you’re saying is that Afghans deserve the fate that the US Military has given them, that their history has led them to this very moment, that funneling in more US Military troops is some sort of destiny, that the civilians who may die in this process are just destined to do so?”

Do I support my beliefs and speak my mind, or do I continue playing my role and support my assigned side of the debate?

I first learned about dissonance in high school. During AP Psychology, we discussed cognitive dissonance, Leon Festinger’s term for a human being torn between two ideas and trying to reconcile these two pieces of information to get out of this state of mental...

When I joined the FLEFF 2014 Blogging Team, I researched this year's theme: Dissonance. Many definitions I unearthed were negative, with heavy, slightly frightening connotations dangling from them.

“Dissonance sparks and ignites.”

FLEFF's definitions uses words like “tension,” “imbalance,” and “disharmony,” but it's this sentence that caught my attention. Rather than associating dissonance as an uncomfortable thing we'd rather avoid, we must embrace it. These kinds of situations, in which we might experience feelings of dissonance, are the situations which...

When I joined the FLEFF 2014 Blogging Team, I researched this year's theme: Dissonance. Many definitions I unearthed were negative, with heavy, slightly frightening connotations dangling from them.

“Dissonance sparks and ignites.”

FLEFF's definitions uses words like “tension,” “imbalance,” and “disharmony,” but it's this sentence that caught my attention. Rather than associating dissonance as an uncomfortable thing we'd rather avoid, we must embrace it. These kinds of situations, in which we might experience feelings of dissonance, are the situations which...

In the past, FLEFF has explored themes that challenge the audience and encourage discussion of important social issues. This year is no different. The 2014 FLEFF theme, which is picked by festival directors, Dr. Patricia Zimmermann and Dr. Tom Shevory every year, is “Dissonance.”

The theme delves into the complexities that come with "difference." It highlights the disharmonious, cacophonous, and disruptive. Tiffani-Amber Muller, FLEFF assistant to the co-directors, describes it as an “all underlying” theme.

“It opens the door different kinds of films and different subjects,” she said. “Dissonance is such a great theme because it creates awkward tension it is all about clashing and the harmony not mixing. I know this one is going to be a good...

In the past, FLEFF has explored themes that challenge the audience and encourage discussion of important social issues. This year is no different. The 2014 FLEFF theme, which is picked by festival directors, Dr. Patricia Zimmermann and Dr. Tom Shevory every year, is “Dissonance.”

The theme delves into the complexities that come with "difference." It highlights the disharmonious, cacophonous, and disruptive. Tiffani-Amber Muller, FLEFF assistant to the co-directors, describes it as an “all underlying” theme.

“It opens the door different kinds of films and different subjects,” she said. “Dissonance is such a great theme because it creates awkward tension it is all about clashing and the harmony not mixing. I know this one is going to be a good...

FLEFF theme of the year is DISSONANCE – a concept that begs resonates with the theorist but rings deeply with the personal. It is about many things: Clashing. Tension. Disharmony. Contradiction. Imbalance. All these buzzwords are encapsulated in the feeling of being an outsider on the inside.

Truly though, that is what’s so incredible about this year’s FLEFF theme. So many of us know that feeling of not belonging. But with that feeling we push forward, ignited by the freedom of being different. As the FLEFF definition puts it so well “dissonance pairs together the incompatible with results that surprise, offend, invite, disturb and excite, spurring action and creativity.”

FLEFF’s very own Ithaca College graduate student, Tiffani-Amber Muller, sees the festival’s theme as an opportunity to push her experience with dissonance. “On a personal level with...

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FLEFF theme of the year is DISSONANCE – a concept that begs resonates with the theorist but rings deeply with the personal. It is about many things: Clashing. Tension. Disharmony. Contradiction. Imbalance. All these buzzwords are encapsulated in the feeling of being an outsider on the inside.

Truly though, that is what’s so incredible about this year’s FLEFF theme. So many of us know that feeling of not belonging. But with that feeling we push forward, ignited by the freedom of being different. As the FLEFF definition puts it so well “dissonance pairs together the incompatible with results that surprise, offend, invite, disturb and excite, spurring action and creativity.”

FLEFF’s very own Ithaca College graduate student, Tiffani-Amber Muller, sees the festival’s theme as an opportunity to push her experience with dissonance. “On a personal level with...

Dissonance. The word strikes a chord within every musician who toils over notes that clash while simultaneously creating the esoteric thrill appreciated by those who thrive on disharmony. Dissonance; A word that evokes images of unsettled, restlessness. It is a word that embodies the quintessential human experience of dischord. We all need it. Humanity craves disagreement for the ways that it fuels the process of wrestling with theoretical challenges and being able to come to more solid personal conclusions through the struggle. FLEFF assistant, Tiffani Amber Muller, explained "Dissonance is something we don't necessarily stop to think about but we do experience every day of our lives".

Dissonance. The word strikes a chord within every musician who toils over notes that clash while simultaneously creating the esoteric thrill appreciated by those who thrive on disharmony. Dissonance; A word that evokes images of unsettled, restlessness. It is a word that embodies the quintessential human experience of dischord. We all need it. Humanity craves disagreement for the ways that it fuels the process of wrestling with theoretical challenges and being able to come to more solid personal conclusions through the struggle. FLEFF assistant, Tiffani Amber Muller, explained "Dissonance is something we don't necessarily stop to think about but we do experience every day of our lives".

This year is FLEFF's 17th anniversary. The theme is Dissonance, and beginning March 31 through April 6, the festival will feature “different environments” across artistic platforms like music, film and technology. Although I am excited for the festival every spring, this year is special for me because I will not only attend, but I will also be backstage part of the staff as a blogger!

I am a senior journalism major with a minor in deaf studies at Ithaca College, which presents the festival since 2005. I currently write for The Ithacan, a daily online newspaper with a weekly print edition at the college, and I have also worked in online and video platforms at international institutions and companies in Brazil and Japan. I tend to cover hard news and rarely step out of...

This year is FLEFF's 17th anniversary. The theme is Dissonance, and beginning March 31 through April 6, the festival will feature “different environments” across artistic platforms like music, film and technology. Although I am excited for the festival every spring, this year is special for me because I will not only attend, but I will also be backstage part of the staff as a blogger!

I am a senior journalism major with a minor in deaf studies at Ithaca College, which presents the festival since 2005. I currently write for The Ithacan, a daily online newspaper with a weekly print edition at the college, and I have also worked in online and video platforms at international institutions and companies in Brazil and Japan. I tend to cover hard news and rarely step out of...

The 17th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival is approaching quickly: kicking off on March 31st and running until April 6th here in Ithaca, New York.

My name is Kimberly Capehart and I am incredibly excited to be back blogging for FLEFF for my second year!

I’m a sophomore Documentary Studies and Production major with an Honors and Politics double minor. My degree program gives me a lot of flexibility in the courses I’m able to take, so I’ve been taking a healthy mix of film, photography, and journalism classes (along with countless others for my minors).

I come from a large town in southern New Jersey called Cherry Hill, which is just about 10 minutes outside of Philadelphia and about 45 minutes away from the infamous “Jersey Shore.” In addition to the obvious benefits of living so close to Philadelphia, growing up in a...

The 17th annual Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival is approaching quickly: kicking off on March 31st and running until April 6th here in Ithaca, New York.

My name is Kimberly Capehart and I am incredibly excited to be back blogging for FLEFF for my second year!

I’m a sophomore Documentary Studies and Production major with an Honors and Politics double minor. My degree program gives me a lot of flexibility in the courses I’m able to take, so I’ve been taking a healthy mix of film, photography, and journalism classes (along with countless others for my minors).

I come from a large town in southern New Jersey called Cherry Hill, which is just about 10 minutes outside of Philadelphia and about 45 minutes away from the infamous “Jersey Shore.” In addition to the obvious benefits of living so close to Philadelphia, growing up in a...